How will AI affect Space Exploration?

That’s one small step for robots, one giant leap for space exploration. You may have heard of AI

before, but do you know it’s crucial for space exploration?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

If you have seen sci-fi movies, it is most likely that some of them had super impressive

technologies like flying cars or super cool hero suits (like Iron Man’s). Artificial Intelligence will

soon help these ideas come to life. For example, flying cars are already being tested in some

parts of the world.

In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a simulation that allows machines to mimic human

intelligence usually through programming. To be able to classify as AI, machines or robots need

to be capable of doing tasks that would otherwise need human intelligence. That’s why it’s

called Artificial intelligence. AI also includes the ability of a machine to learn or solve problems.

Why is AI important for Space Exploration?

Space exploration began in the 1950s when U.S.S.R. launched the first ever satellite (Sputnik) to

orbit our planet in 1957. As crazy as it may sound, the Sputnik satellite already used some kind of

Artificial Intelligence (AI). With AI getting more and more advanced it’s already being

implemented in most space missions…

Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers launched in 2003 had an AI system called Autonav that

allowed the rovers to “drive” in the surface of Mars by themselves. Mission planning, managing

operations, data collection, and navigation systems are just some of the areas that AI is being

used on in the field of space exploration.

One of the main reasons AI is crucial for space exploration is because it allows us to reach

distances that humans never could. It also makes space exploration faster, easier, safer, and

even more accurate! Due to the fact that machines have no feelings (yet), it allows them to

never get nervous during missions which sometimes causes important calculation errors for some

astronauts.

The Future: A better and safer kind of Space Exploration

In the future, space exploration will become easier, faster, and most importantly safer with the

help of Artificial Intelligence. AI-based assistants are already being tested to further help

astronauts with daily tasks and safety protocols while on space missions. One of them includes

the Robonaut assistant developed by NASA.

Soon AI will allow us to explore the almighty sun with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe which will get

less than 4 million miles near the sun’s surface by 2024.

Artificial Intelligence has come a long way in space exploration and will expand even more. Who

knows, AI may even allow us to live a comfortable life on Mars! What we know today is that AI

will definitely improve the capability to explore our universe.

References:

1- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/artificial-intelligence-ai.asp

2- https://www.aiacceleratorinstitute.com/ai-in-space-exploration/

3- https://futurism.com/nasa-ai-will-lead-the-future-of-space-exploration

4- https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/ai-space-exploration-all-you-need-know

5- https://theconversation.com/five-ways-artificial-intelligence-can-help-space-exploration-

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